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LOIMATA, The Sweetest Tears

2020 2m Film
  • Documentary
  • Pasifika

Filmmaker Anna Marbrook (Waka Warriors) followed a Samoan/Kiwi family on a pilgrimage to Samoa, to confront a source of decades long pain. South Auckland-raised Lilo Ema Siope became a waka builder, and captained Hoturoa Barclay-Kerr's waka Haunui Waka Hourua and Aotearoa One. In the feature-length documentary, Marbrook captures humour and emotion during the final weeks of terminally ill Siope's life — as she channels her remaining energy into travelling with her family to her parents' birth place of Samoa, to find closure and healing. Loimata won Best Documentary at the 2021 NZ TV Awards.